'To beat about the bush' definitions:

Definition of 'To beat about the bush'

From: GCIDE
  • Beat \Beat\, v. i.
  • 1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly. [1913 Webster]
  • The men of the city . . . beat at the door. --Judges. xix. 22. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To move with pulsation or throbbing. [1913 Webster]
  • A thousand hearts beat happily. --Byron. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do. [1913 Webster]
  • Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • They [winds] beat at the crazy casement. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]
  • The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die. --Jonah iv. 8. [1913 Webster]
  • Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To be in agitation or doubt. [Poetic] [1913 Webster]
  • To still my beating mind. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. (Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. (Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. (Acoustics & Mus.) To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; -- said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison. [1913 Webster]
  • A beating wind (Naut.), a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress.
  • To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways. --Addison.
  • To beat about the bush, to approach a subject circuitously.
  • To beat up and down (Hunting), to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag.
  • To beat up for recruits, to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise.
  • To beat the rap, to be acquitted of an accusation; -- especially, by some sly or deceptive means, rather than to be proven innocent. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'To beat about the bush'

From: GCIDE
  • Bush \Bush\ (b[.u]sh), n. [OE. bosch, busch, buysch, bosk, busk; akin to D. bosch, OHG. busc, G. busch, Icel. b[=u]skr, b[=u]ski, Dan. busk, Sw. buske, and also to LL. boscus, buscus, Pr. bosc, It. bosco, Sp. & Pg. bosque, F. bois, OF. bos. Whether the LL. or G. form is the original is uncertain; if the LL., it is perh. from the same source as E. box a case. Cf. Ambush, Boscage, Bouquet, Box a case.]
  • 1. A thicket, or place abounding in trees or shrubs; a wild forest. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: This was the original sense of the word, as in the Dutch bosch, a wood, and was so used by Chaucer. In this sense it is extensively used in the British colonies, especially at the Cape of Good Hope, and also in Australia and Canada; as, to live or settle in the bush. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A shrub; esp., a shrub with branches rising from or near the root; a thick shrub or a cluster of shrubs. [1913 Webster]
  • To bind a bush of thorns among sweet-smelling flowers. --Gascoigne. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree; as, bushes to support pea vines. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (as sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself. [1913 Webster]
  • If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 't is true that a good play needs no epilogue. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. (Hunting) The tail, or brush, of a fox. [1913 Webster]
  • To beat about the bush, to approach anything in a round-about manner, instead of coming directly to it; -- a metaphor taken from hunting.
  • Bush bean (Bot.), a variety of bean which is low and requires no support (Phaseolus vulgaris, variety nanus). See Bean, 1.
  • Bush buck, or Bush goat (Zool.), a beautiful South African antelope (Tragelaphus sylvaticus); -- so called because found mainly in wooden localities. The name is also applied to other species.
  • Bush cat (Zool.), the serval. See Serval.
  • Bush chat (Zool.), a bird of the genus Pratincola, of the Thrush family.
  • Bush dog. (Zool.) See Potto.
  • Bush hammer. See Bushhammer in the Vocabulary.
  • Bush harrow (Agric.) See under Harrow.
  • Bush hog (Zool.), a South African wild hog (Potamoch[oe]rus Africanus); -- called also bush pig, and water hog.
  • Bush master (Zool.), a venomous snake (Lachesis mutus) of Guinea; -- called also surucucu.
  • Bush pea (Bot.), a variety of pea that needs to be bushed.
  • Bush shrike (Zool.), a bird of the genus Thamnophilus, and allied genera; -- called also batarg. Many species inhabit tropical America.
  • Bush tit (Zool.), a small bird of the genus Psaltriparus, allied to the titmouse. Psaltriparus minimus inhabits California. [1913 Webster]

Words containing 'To beat about the bush'